We put our lives in the hands of medical professionals when we need treatment for an injury or illness, require surgery, or seek a diagnosis for painful or frightening symptoms. Unfortunately, medical professionals are human beings, and sometimes they make careless errors, act negligently, or use faulty devices. When a doctor or other medical provider’s error causes an injury, worsened medical outcome, or death, the injury victim or their closest surviving family member can recover compensation for the related damages through a St. Louis medical malpractice claim.
What Types of Medical Malpractice Cases are Common In Missouri?
Doctors and other medical providers owe a legal duty of care to their patients. Once a doctor/patient relationship is established, the medical provider must provide the level of care accepted as standard by the medical community. If they breach that duty of care and it causes harm to the patient, the provider may be held liable for injury-related damages. The most common types of cases medical malpractice victims face in Missouri and elsewhere include the following:
- Medication errors
- Missed diagnosis, misdiagnosis, and delayed diagnosis
- Failure to order appropriate diagnostic tests
- Failure to accurately interpret diagnostic tests
- Anesthesia errors
- Surgical errors, including wrong site, wrong side, wrong patient surgeries, and surgical implements left behind in body cavities
- Premature post-surgical discharge
- Inadequte patient discharge instructions
- Failure to recognize post-surgical infection
- Failure to obtain informed consent
- Wrong limb amputations
- Birth injuries
- Administration errors, such as failure to obtain or transfer a complete medical history
Not all cases of dissatisfaction with a medical outcome constitute legal malpractice. A successful malpractice case requires proving that the medical professional acted in a way that another reasonable provider would not have done under the same circumstances. The medical industry describes some types of medical malpractice cases as “Never Events,” including wrong-patient surgeries and wrong-limb amputations. Tragically, these never events still occur despite universal protocols intended to act as fail-safe methods to prevent them.
Do I Have to Go to Court for a Medical Malpractice Case?
While most medical malpractice cases end with settlements and do not require a victim to go to court, it’s not uncommon for doctors, hospitals, and other defendants to deny liability and for their powerful insurance companies to dispute or undervalue claims. A medical malpractice lawyer conducts a thorough investigation to identify the negligence that occurred, document clear evidence of the provider’s liability, carefully calculate the victim’s damages, and make a compelling claim. Then, they send their findings to the appropriate insurance company and begin negotiating for the highest possible settlement. In the event that the insurance company fails to offer an ample settlement for damages like additional medical expenses, lost earnings, and compensation for pain and suffering or catastrophic injury compensation, the attorney must file a lawsuit petition with the court of jurisdiction within two years from the date the medical malpractice injury occurred under Missouri’s two-year statute of limitations.
What Can a Missouri Medical Malpractice Attorney Do For Me?
A successful medical malpractice claim needs meticulous attention to filing details and substantial evidence showing that the case meets the legal standard of liability. It also requires the testimony of renowned medical experts to provide evidence of how the medical provider deviated from the accepted standard of care, the impact on the patient’s health, and the severity and duration of the pain and suffering or permanent injury the patient suffered. Call the experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Miller & Hine to represent you in your Missouri medical malpractice claim.